Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Milan’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: better than 70% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability B−: more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 22 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Milan; the top destination outside it is Grants (23%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Milan
A big share show a job far from home
56% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Milan and Grants trade workers both ways
Grants is the top workplace for Milan residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Milan come from (34% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Milan is where the jobs are
Milan has 857 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 454 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Milan’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Milan is better than 70% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Milan’s grade.
Unemployment (3.7%) is left out: Milan’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Milan could be anywhere from D− to D.
Half of Milan commutes less than 53 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 56% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Where Milan’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Milan clocks in
15% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Milan fills up on a workday
On a workday 410 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 813 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Milan on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 857 jobs in Milan are
857 jobs are based in Milan. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Milan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Milan, 2013 → 2023: 1,110 → 857. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
About 22 minutes each way, about the NM average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Milan workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 689 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across New Mexico: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Milan start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Milan is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 712 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.8% of Milan households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Milan’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Milan compares with U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Milan, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 396 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 750 | Picacho Hills NM | 2,002 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 960 | Tres Arroyos NM | 1,926 | $88K | 2.2% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,161 | Shelby MS | 1,788 | $26K | 55.6% | 13.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,162 | Thayer MO | 1,898 | $37K | 34.3% | 4.8% | 22% | D− |
| 5,163 | Milan NM | 2,468 | $36K | 32.2% | 3.7% | 10% | D− |
| 5,164 | Lordsburg NM | 2,181 | $37K | 23.5% | 4.6% | 42% | D− |
| 5,165 | Clifton TN | 2,344 | $44K | 39.5% | 3.1% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
23% of Milan works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Grants (23%). Darker towns draw more of Milan’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Milan workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan | – | D− | B− | 22 min | $36,133 |
| Grants | 23% | D− | A− | 16 min | $47,183 |
| Broadview | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Golden Acres | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Broadview and Golden Acres: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Milan: questions
What is the median household income in Milan?
$36,133 (±$20,036) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Milan?
32.2%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Milan?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Milan work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grants (23%, 4 mi), Albuquerque (15%, 71 mi), Gallup (9%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Milan walkable?
Milan is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Milan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Milan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Milan
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.